Saturday, February 7, 2009

First and Last Opportunities in Princess Debut

Although you can play Princess Debut perfectly well without a strategy guide, it may be useful to write a brief walkthrough of the game.

One aspect of the game that may be of interest to players is the first and last opportunity to ask any specific Prince to become your partner. In my own first game, I had asked Luciano too soon, apparently, and although we had some wonderful times together and his affection remained at 100% throughout, he was called away inevitably by his King to participate in the World Dance Contest, leaving me without a partner.

In vain did I remain constant to his memory, refusing the options to ask any other Prince to act as his replacement in the hope that he would return at the 11th hour to be my partner for the Ball.

He did not return, sadly. This placed me in a position where knowing the last possible moment at which you can ask any specific Prince to be your partner was critical information in my game.

I had one file saved on the 26th day. Unfortunately, that was the earliest save point I had retained. From that Save point, however, one still can obtain Liam, Vince or Cesar as a Partner for the Ball.

It is interesting to note that you can obtain a couple of events with Klaus but at this point in the game, although it is evident that he truly WANTS you to be his partner, there never is another opportunity to pose the question. (He and the 'real' princess were childhood companions if not actually sweethearts and in many ways, he should be your natural choice of partner.)

As far as the 'last chances' with Cesar, Liam and Vince are concerned, you actually will profit more if you make your decision on the 26th rather than waiting any longer. An Accessory can be obtained from the Animals after the Forest Concert only if you have a partner. If you accept Liam as your partner BEFORE the day of the Forest Concert, you will receive two Accessories from him before the game ends rather than one, quite apart from the Diamond Ring. There was one other Accessory that I received from a fan in a letter on the 28th. I therefore obtained a total of five Accessories between the 26th Day and the end of the game when I chose Liam as a partner on the 26th, rather than waiting until the last opportunity, which occurs at the end of the day at the Amusement Park. With respect to Vince, you only gain the Accessory from the Animals by choosing him before the date of the Forest Concert as well as obtaining the Accessory from the fan. In Cesar's case, you have no options to make him a partner after the 26th.

Accessories do not carry over in Story Mode from one game to the next but once obtained, are included on your Accessory Completion page in the same manner in which the Photos are saved independently on the Photos Page.

If you are the sort of player who rises to the challenge to attain '100% completion', timing in terms of your acceptance of a Partner may be vital. In two separate files where I chose Liam as my partner, doing so on the 26th Day generated far more Accessories for my character than choosing him at the last possible opportunity at the Amusement Park on the night of the 29th Day.

There is one problem with any Walkthrough that I create now. Although I kept a rather sketchy game journal for my first game of Princess Debut, at that point I was playing the game strictly for personal relaxation and enjoyment, as a 'break' from my work on my Rune Factory 2 Guides. In fact, I was advised NOT to approach the game as a possible guide assignment simply in order to give me that much-needed relaxation.

Once you have completed the initial game of Princess Debut, however, the entire game changes as 'clearing' the game unlocks a new character. It is possible that nothing else changes much, but I am not certain of that and there is no way to restore the cartridge to an untouched state. I will go forward with the Walkthrough on the assumption that the only aspect of the game that changes is the addition of Kiefer as a potential Partner, but if I were to predict any other changes, it would be that Accessories may be obtained differently in a second or subsequent game...

I will try to compare my 2nd Game Journal with the 1st whenever possible, but I did not keep the detailed sort of Journal that I usually keep with respect to any game I intend to cover in terms of a strategy guide.

What motivates me most to create a guide for Princess Debut is my own experience with Prince Luciano. I felt absolutely desolate when he failed to return for the Ball after being my partner for almost a fortnight at 100% Affection!

The game is very tricky as well with respect to Luciano as Kip will urge you to ask him to become your partner as early as the 6th Day after the Contest. You have only two options here if you wish to remain single: do not ask him or give the wrong response to the question of WHY you want him to be your partner. I opted not to ask him at all at that point in my second game, with a sad memory of how thrilled I had been in the 1st game when he accepted me after I told him I 'wanted the best'.

The conditions under which you can make Luciano your partner are given in a later post but I realised I had best add the information here as well.

Ask him to be your partner only on the 19th Day, entitled 'Farewell Dance'. He will not accept as he knows that he is planning to leave the next day, but will dance once with you at the Practice Hall. If you give either of the other possible responses at the Practice Hall, he will announce there and then that he is intending to compete in the World Dance Competition. If, however, you ask him to be your Partner, he will ask you to meet him the next morning.

This Event can occur even if you have a Partner at the time and he still will meet you the next morning on the 20th Day, Rumba in Sorrow. If you have a Partner, however, he will not return before the end of the game. If you are single when he asks you to meet him on the 20th Day, he will announce that he plans to participate in the World Dance Competition. When you declare that you will wait for him, as long as you remain single during his absence, he will return on the 29th Day to take you to the Amusement Park. There, he will ask you to be his Partner.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

there is a way to get Luciano at first the same thing happened to me but then I got it right. There is a total of 3 times in wich you can ask Luciano to be your partner,

-On the first opurtunity he will ask why, ¡Do Not Ask Him!

-On the second he will acept but the he will leave you, ¡Dont Ask Him!

-On the third he will leave but you keep the promise of him coming back and he will on the day of the amusement park date

Freyashawk said...

This information is in a later post actually, when I managed to bring him back and it is in my Walkthrough for Princess Debut which I hope IGN will publish by tomorrow.

When you ask him to become your partner on the 19th Day at the Practice Hall, he will refuse, knowing he is planning to leave. The next day, the 20th Day, when you meet him at the beach, you will promise to wait for him and he then will return on the 29th Day and will offer partnership that night at the Amusement Park, provided you remain single while he is absent.

Freyashawk said...

25 February: Please see my Walkthrough for Princess Debut for the different ways in which to keep Luciano as a Partner, either by making him your Partner early in the game, then NEVER dancing with any one or experiencing events with other Princes while he is gone or by asking him on the
19th Day and remaining single until he returns.